interpersonal processes. interpersonal attraction proximity –we need to meet someone before we can...
TRANSCRIPT
INTERPERSONAL
PROCESSES
Interpersonal Attraction
• Proximity– We need to meet someone before we can
become attracted to them
• Interpersonal rewards– Social exchange theory
• I receive more from a relationship than I give
Interpersonal Attraction
• Similarity– We are attracted to those like ourselves– Social economic station in life
• Physical Attractiveness– Matching hypothesis states that we tend to mate
with those similar to ourselves in measures of attractiveness
Love
• Passionate love– High emotional state
– Intense physiological arousal
– Absorption in another person
• Companionate Love– Deep affection
– Friendship
– Emotional intimacy
– Develops over time
Triangular Theory of Love
• Intimacy– Feelings of closeness
• Passion– Sensual arousal
• Commitment– Dedication to the other person and to the
relationship
Evolutionary Perspective
• Feelings and behaviors we associate with love serve to lead to reproductive success
• Romantic love is an adaptation that fosters successful passing on of our genetic code
Sexual Strategies
• Men can maximize their reproductive success by having as many partners as possible, thus passing his genetic code to a number of children– Short term sexual partner
– Long term romantic mate
• Women maximize their reproductive success by being very selective and finding mates with ample resources to support their offspring– Short term and long term is the same partner
Romantic Love
• Attachment theory suggests romantic love serves to bond us to one special other person
• Sense of security with this special someone
Maintaining Relationships
• We tend to weigh the costs of maintaining versus ending a relationship– If more pleasure than pain we remain
• We consider the options of forming a new relationship
Maintaining Relationships
• Those in successful long term relationships tend to:
• Learn how to fight fairly
• Give benefit of the doubt to their partner
• Learn to let go of the negative stuff
• Reframe other’s faults
• Idealize partner (positive illusions)
Dark Side of Relationships
• Those we love the most can cause us the deepest pain
• Ostracism– Silent treatment by partner or others we love
Altruism
• Altruism – Involves behaviors that help other people with
no apparent gain, or with potential cost, to oneself
• No pain, however slight, then not altruistic?
• Ethical Hedonism– All behavior, no matter how apparently
altruistic, is-and should be-designed to increase one’s own pleasure or reduce one’s own pain
Altruistic or Ethical Hedonism
• Helping another study for an exam
• Donating to a charity
• Giving change to a street beggar
• Friend, potential dating partner, team member, stranger
• Charity addresses a family illness
• Giving to the poor one of your faith’s central tenants
Evolutionary Perspective on Altruism
• Focus on reproductive success
• All behavior revolves around preserving our genetic code through reproductive success
• We act in altruistic fashion for our own kin but not towards strangers
Bystander Intervention
• Multistage model for helping a stranger in distress includes:– Notice an emergency– Interpret event as an emergency– Assume personal responsibility to intervene– Decide how to intervene– Actually intervene
• Kitty Genovese (1964) & her 38 neighbors
Bystander Intervention
• Diffusion of responsibility
– The presence of others leads us not to intervene
– Let someone else do it
– We don’t want to get exposed to harm
– We don’t want to become embarrassed
Aggression
• Aggression– Verbal or physical behavior aimed at harming
another person or living being
• Hostile Aggression– Aggression elicited by anger
• Instrumental Aggression– Aggression designed to serve a purpose or goal
Violence and Culture
• Aggression varies across cultures - USA on top
• Culture of honor– Small disputes grow into violence because participants
want to save face and status
• Men are more likely to exhibit physical violence
• Women are more likely to exhibit verbal violence
Roots of Violence
• Instincts– Aggression is inborn and triggered by threat,
frustration, or anger
• Evolution– Violence serves goals of survival and reproduction
• Biological– Excess testosterone & low levels of serotonin
Roots of Violence
• Cognitive theory – Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis suggests that
violence is forthcoming when we become frustrated
• Cognitive–Social Perspective– Activation of aggression is triggered when we perceive
social rewards for being aggressive
– We are not violent when we perceive the cost of being so is to great
General Aggression Model
• Individual dispositions interact with situational variables to determine whether aggressive behavior will be forthcoming
• Capacity for aggression appears to be innate
• Activation of aggression depends on culture and learning
Social Influence
• Social Influence– The effects of the presence of others on the way people
think, feel and behave
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecies– Tendency of individuals to alter their efforts in order to
fulfill their own or others expectations
• Obedience– Compliance with authority
Conformity
• Conformity– Altering attitudes or behavior to accommodate
the standards of peers or groups– It is very difficult to be a lone voice in a crowd– Most of us would rather conform than be alone
• Culture and Conformity– Collective societies such as Japan elicit more
conformity than individualist societies such as the USA
Group Processes
• Group– A collection of people whose actions affect the other
group members
• Norms– Standards of behavior– “We” don’t smoke
• Roles– Norm specific behavior for those in role– Role of a judge in a trial
Group Processes
• Task Leaders– Responsible for ensuring that the group completes its
tasks
• Social-emotional leaders– Try to keep the group working cohesively and with
minimal conflict
• Social facilitation– Influence of groups on individual performance– We tend to play harder on winning teams than losing
teams
Leadership
• Leadership– Involves exerting greater influence than other members
of the group
– Leaders may be task oriented or relationship oriented
– The mix of task and relationship focus is contingent upon the organization
• Task- Production plant
• Relationship- Professional setting
Everyday Social Influence
• Principle of reciprocity
– We do for (to) others what they have done, or failed to do, for us
– If someone has done a lot for us then we are much more likely to do something for them, whether we actually want to or not
Door-in-face technique– We ask someone for something that we know they will
reject
– They reject first request
– We then come back with a much smaller request
– Target more likely to comply with second request
• Son to parent- Will you buy me a new car?• Parent-No• Son- Ok how about a pizza for dinner?• Parent- Ok
Low Balling
• Offer a very low price
• Customer accepts
• Then start to add on “extras”
Principle of Liking
• We tend to conform to requests from people we like
• Basis of Mary Kay Cosmetics phenomena– You are asked to buy cosmetics from a friend
that you have invited into your home